When I graduated from high school, my parents took me to Target and bought me things I'd need for college. As the cart filled with the bare essentials -- towels, shampoo, shower caddy, sheets, toothpaste -- I remember being shocked at how much it cost to live alone. It hadn't dawned on me before then that I couldn't just take everything out of my parent's house -- that I would, in fact, have to duplicate these essentials to live on my own.
What happens when there are no parents? Or when the parents can't provide?
A friend of mine recently forwarded me information about Give What You Got, an organization that helps Kansas City kids who are in foster care, residential treatment facilities, transitional/independent living programs and in at-risk households with supplies they need to transition into whatever world they are emptying out into. It's graduation time, and if you want to help, it's very easy.
I get a lot of review items, and I'm sending a bunch of cookbooks over to help a graduate out. Others are donating money to buy a microwave or pots and pans -- things to help ease the transition from childhood to adulthood.
Congratulations, graduates. Safe travels.
Read my review of The Kitchen Daughter by Jael McHenry at Surrender, Dorothy: Reviews!